Now that's a good one - and perhaps the club could / should have kept the lid on Pearman more at the time, but that's not going to change the current situation, is it?

You are giving the club stick for the sale of Brough. At the time they still had hopes of getting Danny to sign a new deal - he didn't / wouldn't (probably because he'd already agreed to go elsewhere), so the club scouted around for the best available resource, identified that in Cooke and brought him to the club.

At the same time the only 'saleable' part of the deal was the balance of Danny's contract - around 6 month - and, given the poor financial position we were / are in, it was felt - on balance - that it was better to have the cash now, rather than a promise of nothing for tomorrow. I guarantee that over 95% of us would have done the same deal with full knowledge of the circumstances.

JK's job now is to make a side out of what we have got. Some may say it's the sow's ear, but I don't buy it. I think we are taking time to adapt and that in the meantime we are playing without confidence. When a side loses confidence they miss tackles; take wrong decisions and generally exert a negative body language, but this is not time to throw the baby out with the bath water. The club are looking at all available options - they had an option on a well known forward, only to be frustrated by the requirement for visa's (despite him already playing in SL) - but we are now at the stage when recruitment is underway for next season, never mind this, so we may just have to be patient.

As we've seen with both Quins and Salford, it is possible to pull yourselves together. I maintain that we have better squads than both of those 2, plus Cas / Crusaders. We are also on a par with HKR and Catalans - so I still see us in a battle for 8th - once we find confidence and form once more.

Oh, and as for the Stadium issue - it's simple - we get a stadium and the rest is worth working on - we don't, and it won't matter what else we're doing. That's not to say that I don't agree that we need to look after the playing side - I've always advocated the fact that there is no point in building a stadium if we don't build the club sufficiently to fit it, but the first focus - and probably the one that has 'distracted' some at the club - is the stadium, and time will prove that this is the right focus for the club in the long term!

he played in the pre season friendly against us and looked class.

I agree, how hard can it possibly be to attract the better players in the Championship or League 1?

if their under contract and any good they will need a fee! and lets face it we are not a fee paying club, and to be honest if their playing in C1 or Nl1 theres probably a reason why...they arnt good enough for SL.

Clear as day for me now, brough should have been a sign or go in this seasons planning, not hope he signs, fingers crossed, as soon as his financial situation became know the result was obvious surely?

While I agree with what you say regarding concerns that the players may lack quality, feel that some of the ones I have in mind would definately add something to our team, more attacking flare on the flanks anyway.

Point 1 - All I have said is that money is tight - the club have never had anything different so if they find a player that will improve the squad, and they can afford, and is available, I'm sure they will try and get them.

Point 2 - Some of our players were signed after season tickets had been sold - there is no guarantee as to who may be on the playing roster - fit to play - at any one time.

Point 3 - Re Championship and NL1 players - see point 1.

Point 4 - Have a little patience - it's not what any of us wanted, but it is what it is and I am quite content that as much energy as is available is being used to maintain and improve this club. Like you, there are 1,000 things that I would do different but, until Ted rings me with a job offer, I will have to make do with giving him some grief when I speak to him - and I do pass on the feelings of supporters that I speak to and the comments made on here.

I may be a poodle - but I still have a bark!

sorry bud I dont buy that at all and your atempts at justification are sounding ever more desparate.

to sell your best player ... a few games into the final season of his contract, when sitting pretty in the league and looking reasonably good... doesnt smack of good business... it smacks of a directorship that desperately in need of money... if not the fee... then not spending on contract payment... I said in December that if then club sell Brough then it is because we have to! I thought that the money saved from the sacking of Newton paid fror Cooke... that was the press angle at the time!! IMO it was in the best interests of this club to keep its best players for as long as they are contracted!

I feel confident that the team with Danny Bough in it would NOT have lost the game yesterday!


further, to sell/swap your best young prospect for a no-hoper from bradford resreves is IMO even worse!!!

I am now of the opinion... and I shall say this only once as I am not interested in debate as it is my personal opinion, that the club will not move further under its current ownership.. it is time to let the club move on... for better or worse.

I actually like the people involved, but times change, and it has to [istop [/ibeing an incestious family concern!

All fine by me.

I didn't get involved in the club because I knew Ted or any of the board / family. I got involved to help the club that represents me, my origins and my City. The fact that Ted is Chairman at this time is purely co-incidental, but he is and I have seen much of what he does to try and keep things afloat, and for that I believe we owe him respect and gratitude - much more so than, say, some billionairre American who rarely even shows up at the club!

However, at some stage there will be change in the ownership of the club, and we will all monitor that situation rigorously but, for now at the very least, Ted is the only man anywhere who can deliver us with a safe and stable future through the provision of a new home for the current and future generations.

There are some tough decisions - and until we get the concrete pouring, I believe that we are behind the 8 ball in terms of long term recruitment as we cannot guarantee a place in SL until then. We faced this problem directly with Broughy.

I do not wish to fall out over this issue - we are passionate about the same thing - but there is more to running the club and much more going on behind the scenes than most of us ever know or ever will know, but I maintain that most people would have done the Brough deal when faced with the issue - and JK was one of those involved in the situation as he too realises that the long term is far more vital than the current short term issues we are facing!

1 there cant have been an issue with brough re long term super league survival of WTRLFC that a clause in his contract could not have sorted out.
2. Re cooke signing, he was not a replacement for brough, hence all the "im looking forward to teaming up with brough" quotes, because he is not a scrum half for a start.
3. The brough deal was awful, and somehow put across as the best we could get! Think it was the best brough could get but us? nah.
4. Any more to go? theres more than just a sniff of a rumour flying about that there is, if not now, at the end of the season.
5. no ones saying anyone is a poodle, just think some of us are intellegent enough to question whats been put forward as fact.
6. As snowie said yesterday its chicken and egg time, no SL team pointless having a stadium, no stadium, no SL team, to use his egg analogy i think we are putting all ours in the stadium basket currently

I could go on, but actually its pointless, it really is at present.

There isn't anyone else out there to take over the cub though, is there?

I seem to remember a meeting in 2001, Topliss said he wanted to get involved with the running of the club, but he wouldn't unless Ted left. What was that all about?

We have what we have and we have to deal with it. Unless one of us wins £50 mill on the Euros.

I really dont know who would take over.But i alledgedly that when Ted was last approached - he wanted silly money to relinquish control.He was interested in the amount of new investment to the club,only how much he would get from a loss making business!!!!!

Who's this "we" you talk about.

Newton, not the clubs fault
Brough, wanted away and IMO the club made the best of it.
Tronc, well if he's not with us i don't want to watch/support him.

Can you give me inside knowledge on what the clubs "not doing" to find replacements, please.

I feel robbed by the players named above.